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Random Food – muslim food in China

Random Chinese food that was not at all Chinese

Looks: 5

Smell: 4

Spiciness: 3

Satisfaction Factor: 6

Overall: Good

Price TAG: 2 RMB/ per stick or bread

This weekend We traveled to Chengdu to give a good bye to Alex. (Maybe you remember Alex and Sunnini, two superb people I met while traveling to the south during Spring festival Road trip.) Well Alex as translator obtained job and he will leave on Friday to Ethiopia.

Nevertheless, we managed to get to Chengdu.and Alex took us to a very nice neighborhood near the Sechuan university to have a late afternoon snack – xiao chi. He brought us to a Muslim restaurant that served halal food and is run by Uyghur minority from north-west province Xinjiang.

We ordered grilled lamb meat on the stics and a brea. The bread was the best bread I ever tried in China. Pretty bland and dense as it should be. This restaurant although I don’t know its name will definitely see me again as a guest ans customer. here its how it looks like from the outside:

More Random Food…

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Monday’s entertainment in Chongqing

Fishing in Chongqing amusement park

Last Tuesday we visited restaurants in Guanyinqiao. This time we will have chance to try something more active in another part of the city. This time in Nanping, south bank of Yangtze.

The idea first popped on our minds when I was swimming in the Yangtze river. We saw some fishermen along the river bank and wanted to try it as well.

Get off at the Gong mao(工贸) subway station on blue line 3 and take exit nr.2 out. Along the Chongqing exhibition center straight ahead. Across the street you should see the brown traffic sign of Chongqing amusement park (Yóulèyuán – 游乐园). It is right next to the gas station.

No entrance fee to the park itself(at least we did not pay anything), but all attractions has to be payed. I don’t know if it was due to the weather or simply because the season did not start yet, but almost no attraction was working. If you know Chinese you can navigate yourself according to the plan at the gate. If not, use gestures of fishing to ask the nearest person and he/she will show you the way. Down the stairs pass a zipline and you will see small pond.

Check the restaurant at the bottom of the stairs on your right, in there you can have a lunch or something to drink. For now head to the admission office and fishing equipment on the other side. Look to your right when crossing the pond and take some pictures of Shanhuba bridge from unusual angle.

Fishing rods and fish food can be obtained for as less as 5RMB each. You can choose from wet or dry style fish food, but I don’t think there is much difference in it. At the admission office you can also buy snacks and something to drink.

The pond is relatively small and can be circled in several minutes. Two artificial peninsulas and peers gives you chance to pick the right spot and also to serve more people. Though it was Monday afternoon and tiny-tiny rain much people were present. I suppose during weekends and nicer weather the pond will swarm with fishermen, so choose your time well.

Any fish you catch you should take, no matter the size. After you are satisfied with your catch, head to the restaurant where they grill the fish for you. Or you can take it away. Price for the fish is 23(13)RMB/kilo depending on if you are going to grill it or take it away.

Decide for yourself where you want to eat your fish and enjoy the atmosphere in Chongqing.

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Random Food Finger-point

Chinese Food Finger-point 1.0

Looks: 1

Smell:2

Spiciness: 0

Satisfaction Factor: 4

Overall:  No

Price TAG: 15 RMB

Sometimes You don’t have a time to prepare your own food or go to arestaurant to eat. Working 8 hours a day makes you very busy and time is scarce.Preparing food takes time, right? So some companies are focusing on ready made food…to save your time.

This time it was not my food, but my coworkers decision. He saw a cheese, meat and vegetables on the package, so decided to purchase it. But when it came to eat it. He unpacked the food…and what you can see on pictures is the actual food he faced. We were all pretty startled and honestly disgusted.

Compare for your self whether the package and the actual product are similar.

This food can be purchased in any supermarket in Chongqing – Carefour, NCDS,…Honestly it makes me feel very bad about the food culture and nutrition standards our society descended to. Fake commercials became a standard. Showing photoshoped,  unrealistic images of products became normal and people are getting used to it. Commercials and advertisements are showing us something we want to see not what is actually delivered. Thats the world we are living in.

Do you have a similar experience? Have you ever encountered the same extreme difference between what was advertised on the package and how the food actually looked like? Share your story with me.

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